Defensive lineman Marcus Harrison missed his second straight practice because of sickness and rookie free agent defensive end Lawrence Wilson is still recovering from an injury suffered in the rookie minicamp earlier this month. Otherwise, everybody was present and accounted for.

Danieal Manning has been playing strong safety and Chris Harris free safety with the No. 1 defense. Harris is so vocal he can be heard from the sideline.

"We were looking for that when we brought Chris back," Smith said. "We needed a voice back there. Chris is that. He's a smart player. He's the quarterback of our secondary. He knows what's going on on our defense. He's a impact hitter. We're expecting big plays from his this year."

Corey Graham and D.J. Moore have been among those sharing time at nickel.

"We've seen Corey Graham and we know what kind of player he was but we're excited about seeing DJ at the nickel position," Smith said. "He has good instincts, great hands."

Here's offensive coordinator Mike Martz on installing his offense: "You make a mistake, you fix it and move on. We like to get it right the second time."

Martz's best line came at the expense of rookie quarterback Dan LeFevour. When asked how the sixth-round pick was progressing, Martz said: "He's lucky to find the huddle from the sideline right now."

Mad Mike went on to say: "He's very promising. I like his ability and he's really a student of the game. He's worked hard at learning what we do. The worst thing we could do right now is put him in there and give him a bunch of plays. We'd like to have him be a spectator as much as possible for a while and [bring him along] because you can kind of break a guy's confidence, too, so we're very careful about how much we give him."

I'm sorry to report that there's weren't a lot of sterling plays or memorable moments during a routine practice. The most out of the ordinary moment came when alarms sounded and players, coaches and media were instructed to evacuate the building.

A police car, ambulance and two fire trucks arrived on the scene only to discover that a malfunctioning air conditioner was producing smoke.

So much for the rumor that Martz and Cutler were in such a frenzy while drawing up plays with pencil and paper that they started a friction fire.

Today is family day. A huge tent has been erected next to the practice field for wives and kids who will visit after the second practice. Because of the event, there will be no media availability after the second practice. I will update this entry if anything interesting happens, however.